Double Impact 4K UHD Review

“Double Impact’s best stuff comes from the locale. Using docks and shorelines to contrast Hong Kong’s growing economy with the lingering criminal element, Van Damme rushes along boats with a finale staged around shipping crates. That’s a blast, with two brutal villain deaths and Van Damme squaring off again with Bolo Yeung, his opposition from Bloodsport.”

Read our review of MVD’s Double Impact Blu-ray for more

A fantastic bit of work by MVD, Double Impact shows stunning, pure film-based imagery. The natural and organic grain structure is consistent, easily resolved. Resolution soars, improvement over the HD Blu-ray noticeable. There’s no limitation in texture, and the print itself looks near perfect.

The pleasing color space remains organic. Flesh tones have impeccable precision, and when colors bloom, they do so without going overboard. Hong Kong looks spectacular in these conditions, whether the purity of the concrete skyscrapers or the streets covered in neon signage.

Better still is the soft hand applied to the HDR pass. Bright skylines have a notable glow, punching up the peak brightness. Same goes for city lights at their best, pleasingly enhanced without drawing too much attention, while the explosions show incredible pop at their hottest. Black levels sink to an appreciable depth.

MVD includes the PCM stereo mix from the Blu-ray, but also offers a new 5.1 PCM mix. While the range isn’t anything special (a few explosions generating decent low-end push aside), surrounds create a wide, convincing soundstage. Clubs, markets, and waterways all bring stellar ambiance to the mix. It sounds wholly natural and the track keeps sound flowing consistently. Action scenes drive the gunfire around, jumping from the stereos to the rears as needed. Imaging offers a notable improvement over the stereo track of old.

Copying their previous Blu-ray, MVD goes all out. A two-part making-of brings in a number of cast members (Van Damme included) to discuss the making of this actioner. The distributor even tracked down the body doubles. Running close to two hours, this becomes an open discussion, including a character-based defense of a rather ludicrous nude/sex sequence.

An anatomy of a scene lets director Sheldon Lettich talk about his favorite action piece for eight minutes. One of the longest selections of deleted/extended scenes anywhere lasts for 53-minutes. In the next bonus, B-roll footage captures the set live in a great look at how Double Impact came together. Some promo clips, EPK material, and interviews from ‘91 delve into the ad blitz. Great stuff all-around.

Full disclosure: This Blu-ray was provided to us for review. This has not affected the editorial process. For information on how we handle review material, please visit our about us page to learn more.

The following six screen shots serve as samples for our subscription-exclusive set of 54 full resolution uncompressed 4K screen shots grabbed directly from the UHD: